Enron shareholders may see cash soon

KRISTEN HAYS, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:00 am, Saturday, November 15, 2008

Nearly seven years after Enron shareholders watched their investments evaporate along with the company, lawyers are scrambling to begin distributing a $7.2 billion civil settlement before year’s end, a spokesman said.

“People here are working tirelessly to get this money back in the hands of the defrauded investors before the end of the year,” said Dan Newman, a spokesman for San Diego-based law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins.

He said details were still being worked out, but the firm aims to distribute 80 percent of the money in multiple disbursements by the end of December.

Parents Outraged After Seventh-Graders are Told To Look Up Graphic Images Of Oral SexBuzz 60

No date has been set for the first distribution.

In September, U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon approved the proposed allocation plan for the settlement, which allowed the firm to move forward on distributing it to eligible shareholders. The firm, which represents the lead plaintiff in the litigation, the University of California, is overseeing the distribution.

Under the plan, eligible shareholders must have purchased Enron stock between Sept. 9, 1997, and Dec. 2, 2001, the day the company went bankrupt. Shareholders who bought stock outside of that time frame are not eligible.

The plan outlines procedures to distribute the money to about 1.5 million individuals and entities, such as pension funds. Investors who bought common stock during the eligibility period stand to receive an average of $6.79 per share, while those who purchased preferred stock can receive an average $168.50 per share.

Eligible shareholders received paperwork about a year ago alerting them to file a claim by April 30. That deadline was extended to last Monday, but Newman said the firm is no longer accepting late claims.

“The claim filing period is closed,” he said Thursday. “We extended it until this past Monday in order to include as many people as possible. However, at this point we need to move forward so that we may distribute the funds.”

The rest came from other entities, including Lehman Bros., which went bankrupt in September amid the financial crisis. The only individuals who settled, for a collective $168 million, were former Enron directors.